Browsing Tag

Archives

Posted on December 26, 2023

The Place Called Dagon – Herbert S. Gorman’s Folk Horror Novel

Guest Post

by

Philip Jenkins

Baylor University

The current fascination with folk horror as a genre began with British contributions in cinema and literature, and that focus is still obvious, despite all the efforts to broaden and globalize the narrative. Even today, the American part of the story is still seriously under-valued, particularly early writings that long precede the British wave of the 1960s. If I was looking for the first ever piece of writing in folk horror, I would make the case for Nathaniel Hawthorne’s short story “Young Goodman Brown” (1835), while Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery” (1948) is an obvious early classic. Here, I want to highlight a work that still stands among the very first full-length novels in this tradition written in any country, and one that already at its early date fulfils all the criteria for the folk horror label. This is The Place Called Dagon, by Herbert S. Gorman, published in 1927. Although it is poorly known today, it still makes for very rewarding reading.

Read more

two girls hug
Posted on December 9, 2022

“Bodies Bodies Bodies” pile up in a trenchant tale of affluent anxiety

Guest Post

Privileged paranoia is rarely as enjoyable as in Halina Reijn’s English language feature film debut – a sharp, sarcastic slasher stabbing away at the elite’s self-obsession and self-loathing. A devastating lack of meaning serves both as the origin and outcome of a hilarious horror that is simultaneously physical, psychological and parodistic. The Danish director’s genre gem cunningly mimics mainstream cinema’s detachment from lower-class reality by zooming in on a prototypical group of upper-class kids. Their hurricane party set in a friend’s mansion is crashed by their estranged friend Sophie (Amandla Stenberg).

The recently recovered addict brings her new girlfriend, eastern European Bee (Maria Bakalova), the only one unfamiliar with the affluent apathy of the spoiled sextette she’s to stay with. Belligerent host David (Pete Davidson), his theatrical girlfriend Emma (Chase Sui Wonders), self-righteous Jordan (Herrold), pretentious podcaster Alice (Rachel Sennott), her older Tinder date Greg (Lee Pace) and Sophie are, as Emma puts it, “rich” or “rich rich.” They scoff at Bee trying to contribute to the expenses by bringing food, spill expensive champagne, toy with antique armor and play the titular game. Read more

Posted on November 27, 2020

Courses in Horror from Borderlines Open School

Guest Post

Borderlines Open School for Advanced Cross-Cultural Studies is offering some courses in the new year that will definitely be of interest to horror fans:

Why Lovecraft? Why Now?

(January 4–February 1, 2021)

Instructor: Rebekah Sheldon

https://borderlinesopenschool.org/courses/p/whylovecraft

In this course we will focus on the New Weird, a group of 21st-century authors who are rewriting Lovecraft’s oeuvre and taking his images in dramatically new directions.  
The Politics of Horror
(February 17–March 10, 2021)
Instructor: Bethany Doane
https://borderlinesopenschool.org/courses/p/horrorpolitics

In this course we will approach horror as an inherently (politically) ambiguous genre, situating its representational politics and ideological subtext alongside its aesthetic effects, and thereby complicating simple readings to think through a range of possible interpretations.  
For more information on Borderlines Open School for Advanced Cross-Cultural Studies, feel free to visit: https://borderlinesopenschool.org/.

Read more

Without Name
Posted on March 16, 2019

7 Exceptional Recent Irish Horror Films Ranked

Dawn Keetley

Irish horror film has definitely been undergoing a renaissance recently and so, for this St. Patrick’s Day weekend, I’ve created a list of the best recent Irish horror, ranked. They are all excellent, though. Click on the “Read more” link to get the full review and the trailer.

The Hallow

Bojana Novakovic as besieged mother in The Hallow

  1. The Hallow (Corin Hardy, 2015). Irish folk horror film, The Hallow follows a couple, Adam and Claire Hitchens (Joseph Mawle and Bojana Novakovic), along with their baby, Finn, who go to stay in a house deep in the Irish forest, which has just been sold for development. They discover there is a frightening truth to local folklore about “the hallow”—fairies and other supernatural creatures who want humans to stay out of their woods. Read more.

Read more

Posted on September 23, 2017

Thoroughbreds

Dawn Keetley

Thoroughbreds (USA; 2017) is written and directed by Cory Finley, his first feature film. It began life as a play, but, as Finley was writing it, he told the audience at Fantastic Fest, he realized that he was seeing parts of his story cinematically. So Thoroughbreds became a film starring Anya Taylor-Joy, who plays Lily, and Olivia Cooke, who plays Amanda.

Lily and Amanda are two wealthy former friends (sort of) finishing up high school in Connecticut. They are thrust together when Amanda’s mother pays Lily to tutor her. From beginning to end, the film is about the two girls’ relationship, which flourishes under Amanda’s relentless unconventionality and honesty, as she pushes Lily to be more honest about herself. It doesn’t take long for Amanda to learn that Lily hates her stepfather (Paul Sparks). Does she have reason to hate him as much as she does? Maybe. The film goes to the brink of portraying him as abusive, possibly to Lily, possibly to Lily’s mother, but it stops short and we wonder if maybe he’s just a rather run-of-the-mill jerk. Either way, the amoral Amanda suggests an unthinkable plan to Lily, and the plot then takes a dark turn, wending its way into increasingly unexpected terrain.

Read more

Back to top